Cambodia’s unfinished railway linked to Thailand

Published on : Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Officials said that the northern railway line of Cambodia has been connected to Thailand at Poipet City despite the fact the certain portion of the railway track are yet to be completed before trains start running between these two nations.

Sun Chanthol, Transport Minister of Cambodia mentioned at a ceremony marking an important milestone in a project that has commenced since 2008 that cross-border rail travel would be available from next year onwards. He said that the railway tracks would be utilized for transporting both commuters and cargo.

Ly Borin, director, Transport Ministry’s railway department said that nearly 6 km of tracks were yet to be finished in Cambodia.

In February 2008, the officials had broken ground on the 48 km of railway track stretch between Serei Saophoan City and Poipet. The original completion date then had been scheduled for 2009.

Mr. Borin said that currently, border logistics are being worked out between Cambodia and Thailand and this includes the immigration and customs procedures. He said that the ministers of Cambodia would soon be meeting with their Thai counterparts for the purpose of discussing solutions.

On Monday morning, 20 people protested outside the Poipet City Hall over complications that were caused by the railway project.

One of the protesters named Vorn Voan, who is 36, who resides in a portion of the track in Phsar Kandal said that the protesters were demanding compensation from the regional authorities for the noise triggered by the railway track construction. The protesters met Ngor Mengchroun, the governor of Poipet City and Mr. Borin of the railway department following their protest around 7.20 a.m., according to Mr. Voan.

However, they failed to arrive at a solution.

Mr. Voan said that they were asked by the governor not to protest any more since it was not his duty to find an effective solution for the families affected by the construction. He said that the governor had warned them to stall their protests and threatened them to put them in prison if they continued the protests.